


Chase the Truth

by Angsty_Kiefer



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: (this doesnt come up in the first chapter tho), Gen, M/M, Meta Fic, Meta for Katagawa mostly (but also for Rhys), Nonbinary Zer0, Trans Katagawa, Trans Rhys, additional tags to be added as we go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 01:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21235520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angsty_Kiefer/pseuds/Angsty_Kiefer
Summary: About a month after his rivals supposed death at the hands of the Vault Hunters, Katagawa Jr. shows up at Rhys's front door looking like death, and passes out on Atlas HQ's lawn. Rhys wants to know what happened and why.





	Chase the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Well, now ain't this a surprise. Two years since I've last posted something, and I come back to an entirely different fandom! 
> 
> This was something I came up with on a whim after getting deep into character meta with some friends, and I decided to go ahead and actually write it, and what do you know, here we are! 
> 
> This Will be multichapter, but as to how many itll end up being, that I can't predict. We're just going along with however it flows at this point. 
> 
> (The title for this fic is shamelessly taken from the song "Holiest" by Glass Animals.)
> 
> (And, I Have to give a big shout out to Bucky, James, Neil, Tristan, and Especially Yang for encouraging me to go along with this idea. Love yall lots <3 )

It started when Rhys got the message that his rival had collapsed in front of his office building. 

It’d been a relatively quiet day; ever since the war with Maliwan had ended Promethea had seen a lot more of those. Residents of the metropolis planet were beginning to come out of their hiding spots and retake their houses now that police bots and soldiers weren’t constantly lining the streets. There’d been visibly less stress around the office as well, now that the Atlas employees could return from being soldiers and go back to their normal jobs. Recovering from the war was going smoothly. 

Or, at least it Seemed that way. 

Rhys had been sitting in his office, reading through a financial report on the damages done just to the HQ building alone, which at that point was beginning to stress him out a bit. Not only had the war been fairly destructive to all of Promethea, it was also costing him and all its citizens a Lot in terms of repairs. Head in his hands, he sighed. Thankfully, Atlas was fairing well on the market those days, being well established enough to have earned a good reputation among the people. If anything the war costs were just a small step backwards, but nothing too big that they couldn’t bounce back from. They just needed time, that was all. 

But apparently the universe didn’t want to give him that time. 

Zer0 coming to see Rhys in his office wasn’t all that uncommon, after all they were hired to help protect the CEO and his employees/company from the competition, they needed to check in with him at times. This wasn’t a time that Rhys had been expecting to hear from the assassin however, so their sudden appearance in his office was a surprise to say the least. 

“Zer000!” Rhys said, drawing out the last syllable of their name, “What brings you here? I don’t think there’s any updates I was waiting on, not that, y’know not that I’m Aware of at least. Might’ve slipped my mind though with how much has been going on.” No matter how often Rhys was around the assassin now, he still stumbled over his speech every now and then, an unfortunate habit he couldn’t seem to shake. Zer0, as usual, paid it no mind however, and flashed him a “ >:( “ on their helmet instead. 

“Katagawa makes his return/ on the front lawn of Atlas./ He's looking for you.” Never one to sugarcoat things, Zer0 delievered the message to the CEO as bluntly as they normally did with everything they said. 

At that information, Rhys jumped up from his desk, almost tripping over his desk chair in the process. “Katagawa, y-you mean **That** Katagawa?? How, wh-I thought he was dead!! We saw the Vault Hunters  _ kill him _ Zer0! Are you sure it’s actually him??”

Zer0 just nodded, motioning for Rhys to follow them as they disappeared towards the entrance to the building. Disentangling himself from behind his desk, Rhys followed them towards the door. 

As he got closer to the front of the building, he could hear the concerned voices from some of his employees who huddled by the doors entrance, watching the front lawn. _ “Never a good sign when that happens,”  _ Rhys noted mentally. He waved as he ran past them all, shouting behind him “Nothing to worry about everyone! Everything’s under control, Zer0 and I are handling things!” 

As much as his mind was racing in that moment, he had to appear calm on the outside and keep a level head. That’s what his employees needed from him, and he was well aware of it. 

When he finally caught up with Zer0 outside of HQ, Rhys took a moment to catch his breath, panting a bit as he slowed to a stop near Zer0’s side. When he finally looked back up, he was met with an image he wasn’t quite sure was entirely real. 

Katagawa, yes _ That _ Katagawa, the one who’d started the war with Atlas, was standing on the HQ’s front lawn, just as Zer0 had said he was. Sword at his side, looking increasingly angry, and still dressed in his Maliwan-ized version of Zer0’s outfit, he looked like he’d seen better days. His suit looked absolutely wrecked in some spots, chinks visble in the armor plating and burn marks from gunshots strewn across the whole of him. Deep dark bags adorned the man’s eyes, and even a smatter of what appeared to be dried blood was on his cheek, completing the whole look. 

In very few words, Katagawa looked like Hell to Rhys, and not in the good way. 

_ “Where has he Been this whole time?? If he’s been alive then why hasn’t he changed or-or washed up, or something?? He looks like he just finished his fight with the Vault Hunters and that was at Least a month ago!”  _ Rhys’s mind was racing a mile a minute as he took in the appearance of his rival, so much so that he failed to realize when Katagawa was staring right back at him, face drawn tight in determined anger. 

“RHYS!” he called out, pointing the sword at his side towards the CEO, “We finally meet again! I waited long enough, waited until I couldn’t anymore, and now here we are again! You can’t run off this time, now that there’s no Vault Hunter to fight your battles for you!” Katagawa laughed, slightly high pitched and a little desperate sounding. “It’s just You and Me this time, old friend. No more games! We’re going to Finish This Fight like men, and then I’ll go back to Maliwan like I’d originally planned, and this’ll be over with!!”

He took a step towards Rhys, sword still extended in front of him. Zer0 took that as a sign to take a step in front of Rhys, drawing their own sword in response. 

“You are not ready/ for a fight as is. Leave, while/ you still have the chance.” Zer0 said it with a hint of a threat in their tone, as they tried to make themself clear to Katagawa. If he came closer, there would be no hesitation from the assassin to strike. 

Katagawa just laughed again, somehow sounding even more desperate this time. “Leave? LEAVE?? Oh Zer0, you Wish I could leave. Honestly, I’m starting to wish the same! I’ve been stuck here for so long!” He turned towards Rhys again, making sure to stare him down. “But I Can’t leave, not yet you see. I have to Finish This first, and if that means taking down a petty assassin first before eliminating Rhys well. What’s one more name on the ledger at this point?” He said it so casually, so detached. Rhys was gaping at him by that point, hands raised in a defensive stance. 

“Katagawa, c’mon man, there’s Gotta be another way a-ro-ound this!” Rhys was stumbling a bit at that point, shaking slightly from fear. Here he’d thought the whole time that his rival had been dead, his company and his people safe, and he could finally relax a bit. Apparently, he’d been Entirely wrong, and the threat had reappeared on his doorstep, ready and eager as ever to end this the messy way. He wasn’t looking forward to any of it. 

“Another way?? Rhys Rhys Rhys, you kid yourself too much,” Katagawa was even closer now, sword still drawn. Zer0 readied themself to strike, seeing as Katagawa didn’t seem to want to back down. “You know as well as I do how this is going to end,” he continues, stopping steps away from the end of Zer0’s blade. “Now, do me a favor, and call off your partner, and take your death like the man you say you are. That’s how proper CEO’s go down after all.”

Rhys didn’t dare move from behind Zer0, he knew what would happen if he did, and it’d be a swift clean cut to the neck at the hands of Katagawa. Zer0 didn’t move either, keeping their protective stance. They knew what would happen too if they moved, and they didn’t intend to let the enemy have his way. 

Katagawa growled deep in his throat at their refusal to follow his instructions. “Alright Rhys. I’d have let you die swift and as painlessly as possible, but I can see you’d rather draw things out. So that's Exactly what you’ll get-” he said, coming forward towards Zer0 as he spoke. 

But before he could actually reach the assassin, he fell face forward on the ground, collapsing heavily, sword clattering off to the side of him. 

Neither Rhys nor Zer0 moved for a moment, seeing if Katagawa was just toying with them both to get their guard down. Eventually though, Zer0 moved first, kneeling down once they got to his side, and, taking two fingers to test for a pulse. 

“He still breathes, sadly./ Likely collapsed from exhaustion./ Fortunate, for us,” they finally spoke, giving Rhys a small bit of relief. How he kept getting lucky when it came to evading death at the hands of Katagawa was inexplainable, but he wasn’t about to question it. 

He Was going to question it though when he saw Zer0 positioning their sword above the unconscious man, ready to kill him with one hit straight through his chest. 

“Wait wait wait!” He yelled, rushing over towards Katagawa and the assassin. Zer0 flashed him a “ ? “ on their helmet screen, clearly confused. 

“He is unconcious. It /would be best to kill him. Why/ not take him out now?” Zer0 was extremely confused at their partners yelling, but nonetheless, they moved their sword away from Katagawa as asked. They stood back up, looking towards Rhys for an explanation.

“I mean it;s just-well it’s-it’s complicated but. I think it’d be better to put him somewhere secure, somewhere we can maybe question him when he wakes up?” Rhys fumbled a bit, trying to explain his reasoning for stopping Zer0 from outright killing his rival. He had a feeling he could maybe pull some information out of him if anything, but ultimately, he wanted to know what had happened to him. Where had he been this whole time?? Why did he look so ragged? What happened to him that made him pass out just before striking his enemy? None of it added up, and he wasn’t comfortable with leaving it at that. 

Zer0, meanwhile, showed a “ :( “ on their helmet, clearly not happy with that answer. Rhys in turn said “It’s not that I really want him alive it’s just-it’s just that none of this adds up, okay? I’d rather get some answers first before offing him and being left in the dark.” Zer0 still didn't look completely happy with that explanation, but eventually, they just shrugged in response. 

“Just so you know, I/ do not agree with your choice./ But, this is your call.” They walked back over to the unconscious man, carefully bending down to pick him up and sling him over their shoulder like it was he weighed nothing. Turning towards Rhys, they showed another “ ? “ to him. “Where shall we put him?/ Certainly he can’t roam free./ Somewhere secure then.”

Rhys thought on it for a moment, and then he had an idea. “There’s a storage room right off the side of my office. No side doors there, no windows, no ways to escape. There’s even a spare cot in there too. And if we need to we can get a camera in there too, no issue. Only way he could get out would be to go past you or I and that makes it the safest spot.” 

Zer0 nodded, motioning forward for Rhys to lead the way. Rhys turned on his heels and walked back in towards the HQ building, taking a moment to stop and address the employees still crowded by the door. 

“Everything’s fine!” He said, imbuing his voice with an air of confidence he didn’t quite have in the moment. “Katagawa has been secured, Zer0 and I are going to lock him up somewhere so we can question him later, but, he poses no threat to you all. Zer0 will make sure of that,” he said, casting a glace at Zer0 as he said so, who gave everyone a thumbs up in response. “See? Taken care of. Now go ahead and get back to work, and hopefully there’s no more surprises for the day.” There were some murmurs as people left to go about their duties once again, but everyone seemed mostly content with that answer. Not everyone there understood Zer0 or why they were there, but they knew that they were in good hands with the assassin protecting them as well, so they didn’t question it. 

Rhys and Zer0 made the long trek back towards the elevator, and up the many floors to Rhys’s office, and once they were there, Rhys lead their partner straight to the storage room so they could deposit their unconscious guest.  _ “Political prisoner might be a better term than guest at this point though,” _ Rhys thought to himself as he stumbled trying to get the lock open on the door. Once he’d managed to unstick the door from the door frame, he pushed it open to reveal a small dusty room that had Definitely seen better times, but he was right, there Was a small cot inside as promised. And for now, that’s all the hospitality Katagawa was getting from them, especially after trying to kill them yet again. 

Zer0 walked over to the cot and unceremoniously dumped the man onto it, making sure that he was at least on it, before taking a moment to flip him off. 

“He is heavy, and/ I did not enjoy that. I/ will return later.” And without much else to say, Zer0 took their leave, probably to go blow off some steam if Rhys knew them well enough. 

The CEO knew it was an odd choice to keep his near dead rival in a locked room in his headquarters, and right in his office no less but...he couldn't just let him die without getting some answers first. And with that thought in mind, he quietly closed the door and locked it back up again, decided to come back later, if and/or when Katagawa showed the first signs of waking up. 

But for now, he had other work to do.

**Author's Note:**

> If you'd like to find me somewhere else for updates on this fic or to see possible art from it, you can find me over on twitter @angsty_kaz, or on tumblr @angsty-kaz!


End file.
